Systems and methods for adjusting game-play time of pinball machines

ABSTRACT

A self-adjusting-difficulty feature for a pinball machine enables operators to set a desired game playtime. The difficulty of play, the chance of a ball draining or staying on the playfield, is adjusted through moving active features such as posts to different positions on the playfield. Thus the machine is made easier to play for a novice and tougher for an experienced player. The score given by playfield features is increased as the level of difficulty is increased. Thus, the novice and experienced player may play for a similar amount of time, the experienced player is more likely to get a higher score. Additionally, some playfield features may only be unlocked when the machine is set for a high level of difficulty.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 based on U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/443,393, filed Sep. 27, 2007, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to amusement games such as pinball and pachinko machines and, more specifically, to adjusting game play based on the current player's skill level.

B. Description of Related Art

As is well known, pinball games typically comprise an inclined playfield mounted in a game cabinet and supporting a rolling ball. Players control the game ball with flippers to score points by projecting the ball towards game features, such as targets, bumpers, and the like. Conventional pinball games provide the player with a predetermined number of game balls that are played on the game playfield.

Over the years pinball machines have lost space in arcades and location-based entertainment centers to video arcade games. In 1931 Baffle Ball (D. Gottlieb & Co.) sold 50,000 units. That same year Ballyhoo (Bally Mfg.) sold 75,000 units. In contrast, the only surviving pinball manufacturer Stern Pinball is “striving towards 10,000 machines a year.” One of the major reasons for this decline is game-play time. Video arcade games have an operator-settable game-play time. Pinball game-play time is typically solely related to a player's skill.

Pinball games derive their appeal from the challenge they present to game players. Players are rewarded for skillful play with bonuses, extended game play, and free games. Usually, skillful play requires a significant investment of game time and expense before the new player becomes familiar with the particular scoring scheme and game features and develops the eye-hand coordination to control the ball and hit the desired targets. Game appeal thus depends on a player's willingness to learn the game. Often, a novice player with little skill and experience will quickly drain all of the game balls and experience an unexciting, short-lived game play. He or she may become intimidated and quickly lose interest in that particular pinball game or in pinball games in general. Thus, in order to permit players to develop their skills and maintain interest in a particular pinball game, it is desirable to provide new players with the option to learn and master a particular pinball game at a more reasonable cost. At the same time, the skilled player may become bored with a game that is “too” easy and doesn't provide enough challenge to keep him interested.” (Sullivan, U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,059)

As a gamer becomes skilled with a particular pinball machine, his game-play time increases. This decreases potential revenue from a machine. All amusement games are often subject to a queue. One skilled individual may tie up a pinball machine for 30 minutes or more, on one play. Unlike waiting to play a video arcade machine, the wait for a pinball machine may be long and variable, thus causing an individual to lose interest in a particular machine or in pinball in general.

One method of adjusting a pinball machine's difficulty is the position of posts. Many machines were built with multiple positions for posts. For example, a post near an out-hole typically has three positions, conservative, medium and liberal. The position of this post determines how likely a pinball would exit through the out-hole or bounce back into the playfield. Thusly the machine's difficulty level could be set, but only by a trained operator while the machine was being serviced.

The problem of pinball game-time being to short is addressed by Sullivan, et. al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,059 that teaches a “novice” mode where game-time is determined by a timer and not by a pre-determined number of balls. Sheats, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,153 teaches helping novices by having the processing circuit activate a flipper, to show the novice where the “money” shots are and to help his or her score.

Takemoto et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,683,082 teaches adjusting score values for features and, total score needed for end of game. Thus Takemoto eventually adjusts score values and score needed to “win” so that both a novice and skilled player will have a near equal chance to win. The techniques taught in Takemoto are applicable to Pachinko but are not transferable to conventional American pinball. Furthermore, the goal of conventional American pinball is for the more skilled player to have a higher score then a less skilled player.

Timed events are known in the art. It would be a simple matter to manufacture a pinball machine that turned itself off after a preset amount of timed play. One can imagine the frustration of a player having his game terminated in such a manner. It is certainly likely to bias a player against playing pinball in the future. As pinball machines have enjoyed over 50 years of immense popularity, it would be logical to change game-play as little as possibly while addressing the concerns mentioned above.

Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods for controlling game-play time while not significantly changing the conventional gaming experience.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention teaches systems and methods to adjust game-play time of pinball machines. The key observation is that these systems and methods are organic to conventional pinball play, and thus acceptable to a typical pinball player. The present invention has two broad components. One, logic and circuitry to evaluate the current player's game-play and two, active playfield features for the logic and circuitry to act upon.

The logic and circuitry comprises the Self Adjusting Difficulty (S.A.D.) component. Information such as player's total time played this game, number of balls left, average time per ball is monitored and referenced to a pre-determined standard. Based upon this information the S.A.D. component may continually send signals to the active play field component/s that incrementally change game play, making a drained ball more or less likely.

The active playfield component consists of a feature or set of features that can be adjusted to make a ball drain event either more or less likely. An example would be U.S. Pat. No. 4,971,324 Grabel et al. “Variable position flipper mechanism for pinball games”.

The S.A.D. component analyses the current player's game and references to pre-determined standards at fixed intervals. The S.A.D. component may send signals to any or all active playfield feature/s with the effect of making a ball drain event more or less likely.

Pinball machine operators have a high interest in maximizing pinball plays. Therefore, the pre-determined standards may be looser at times when there is traditionally little pinball play and tighter at times when there is traditionally high pinball play.

Additionally, the pre-determined standards may change depending on length of time since the last pinball play.

Furthermore, the S.A.D. component may be directed by a machine operator, to set the playfield to a particular degree of playability, and then turn the S.A.D. component off. This may be the preferred mode for tournament play.

In order to attract and keep experienced pinball players, an experienced player's score should be higher than an inexperienced player's score, even in the event that their game length is the same. Therefore, the score a player earns may be modified with reference to the machine's current difficulty setting.

As the logic and circuitry is already tracking a player's skill level, this information may be used to unlock certain features in order to make a more interesting game.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate the invention and, together with the description, explain the invention. In the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a view of a pinball machine showing some elements of the present invention.

FIGS. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 are flow diagrams and look-up tables useful in explaining operation of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description of the invention refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in different drawings identify the same or similar elements. Also, the following detailed description does not limit the invention.

The following description describes a basic embodiment of our invention. Referring to FIG. 1, sensor 110 is positioned to detect a new ball in play. Sensors 120 are positioned to detect a ball draining out a side hole. Sensor 150 is positioned to detect a ball draining down the center, between the flippers. Movable Post Bumpers 120 are positioned to enable our current invention to change the size of the area a ball can drain out the side (Out Holes). Movable Flippers 130 are positioned to enable our current invention to change the size of the area between them. (Center Drain)

“Variable Position Flipper Mechanism for Pinball Games” by Grabel et. all U.S. Pat. No. 4,971,324 teaches movable flippers. One skilled in the art would appreciate that a Movable Post Bumper could be constructed by mounting a post bumper to a worm screw along with a motor and circuitry to turn the worm screw in both directions. For a more detailed discussion of Movable Pin Bumpers please see applicant's U.S. patent application Ser. No. entitled “Systems and Methods for Active Post Bumpers for Pinball Machines”, filed concurrently.

FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate the logic flow of one iteration of our present invention. For the purposes of illustrating, but not limiting our current invention, the following discussion will assume a pinball game that comprises 5 balls. Additionally this discussion will assume an optimal game playtime of 5 minutes. When a new game is started 200, some variables are reset 201. When sensor 110 detects a ball 202 the game clock (seconds) is turned on 203. Each individual ball is timed Ball_Time along with total game time Game_Time.

There is a potential problem at this point in that a player may start a new game, yet not launch a ball, thus tying up a pinball machine and decreasing revenues. It may be desirable limit the time a ball is idle. Thus, a count down timer may be inserted between 202 and 203, and 307 and 308. This count down timer may be operator settable. Additionally, a display audio and/or visual may be presented to a player to alert him that the game clock will start shortly if the ball is not launched.

After a ball drains the current difficulty level of the game is adjusted 306. However, a player may enter a “groove” and play an individual ball an extremely long time (Ball_Time). Ball_Time is monitored and if an individual ball is running too long, regardless of current level of difficulty (Difficulty_Level), an action will be taken 205 and 311. That is, the current Ball_Time is looked up in FIG. 7, and the indicated action is taken, if the new action is greater than the current action.

Referring to FIG. 7. If Ball_Time=100 the indicated action would be to open the flippers to 50%, making the space between flippers 130 larger and thus making it more likely that a ball would drain between the flippers. However, if the flippers were currently open to 100%, then this action would be ignored.

Sensors 120 and 150 are monitored to see if the ball has drained 206 and 207. If the ball has drained the appropriate variable is set 208 and 209, to indicate if it was a side drain (Exit_Side=yes) or center drain (Exit_Center=yes). Look up table FIG. 4. makes use of these variables. If Difficulty_Level is negative, the player has a less than optimal game time. In an effort to increase this player's game time, the area where the player drained the previous ball is closed in, making a ball drain there less likely. Conversely, if Difficulty_Level is positive a player is having a longer than optimal game time. In an effort to decrease this player's game time, the area where this player did not drain the previous ball is opened up, making a ball drain there more likely.

After a ball drains, the game clock is turned off 210 and game time saved 211. If it is the first ball and the ball drained in less than 10 seconds 301 the there is just a slight adjustment made in difficulty level for ball two 302. Applicant's experience in the field indicate that an experienced pinball player is just as likely to drain the first ball of a new game as an inexperienced player. Therefore not much weight is put a quick drain of the first ball. Additionally this prevents an experienced player from deliberately quick draining the first ball in order to have ball two at a very low difficulty level.

The value of Ball_Time is referenced in FIG. 5, which determines the value of Difficulty_Adj_Ball 303. Similarly the value of Game_Time is referenced in FIG. 6, which determines the value of Difficulty_Adj_Game 304. These two difficulty adjustments are added together to determine Difficulty_Level 306. Most pinball players, both good and bad, have variations in how long they may keep any particular ball in play. Therefore adjusting difficulty level by the play time of the previous ball plus the total game time may produce a difficulty level more appropriate to a player's skill level.

The logic flow proceeds as described for ball one until a check is made for number of balls played 318 and game ended 319 if over a preset number. The basic embodiment described above will make it more likely that both a poor and good player will have a total game time close to a pre-determined optimal game time. However it will reward poor players will a higher score and good players will a lower score. To remedy that, another iteration may modify the score earned based upon the current Difficulty_Level. In this case an additional step would be added after determining Difficulty_Level 305. This step would reference the value of Difficulty_Level in FIG. 8 to determine Score_Modifier. All scores a player earned would then be multiplied this value. Thus rewarding a good player with a higher score, and a poor player with a lower score.

To summarize the basic embodiment described above:

-   -   Two movable features (set of post bumpers, set of flippers)     -   9 Difficulty Levels dependent on: play time of previous ball         plus total game time.     -   Difficulty Level adjusted for each new ball     -   Additional Difficulty Level adjustment for single ball over “x”         seconds

One skilled in the art would appreciate that this basic embodiment may be scaled up. It may be made more transparent to a player and thus more organic, through the use of more movable features for example. It may be made more interesting to a player, by unlocking features based on current difficulty level, for example.

The discussion below will focus on different iterations of our current invention based on the basic iteration discussed above.

Additional Movable Features

Additional Movable Features may be utilized by the logic and circuitry to make a ball drain more or less likely. These may include a “stretching rubber” or “kicking rubber”. That is, a rubber ring stretched between typically two or three posts which rebounds the pinball. Features of this type may include a device which propels the pinball away. One or more of the posts of these device may be movable, thus changing the angle the pinball will rebound from the feature. Changing the angle of the rebound will make a ball drain more or less likely. For a more detailed discussion of features of this sort please see applicant's U.S. patent application Ser. No. entitled “Systems and Methods for Active Angle Bumpers for Pinball Machines”, filed concurrently.

Additional Movable Posts may be placed about the playfield. One advantage of having multiple movable features is that smaller movement is required to make a ball drain more or less likely. A smaller movement is less likely to be noticed by a player, thus more organic to play. A key observation is: the present invention is concerned with the probability of a ball drain for the purpose of adjusting game time, over multiple games. The fact that one individual ball, or one individual game may be too long or too short is immaterial as long as the average game time over multiple games is optimal.

One skilled in the art would appreciate that other features known in the art may be designed to be movable.

Controllable Force for Movable and Fixed Features

Current state of the art allows the force used by features to be controlled. For example, the power of a Pop Bumper may be controlled. A more powerful kick from one of these bumpers would have the effect of making a pinball move faster. A faster pinball may harder to control, thus making a ball drain more likely. In a typical angle bumper on the playfield near the flippers, a strong kick may move the ball up and away, making a drain less likely, while a weak kick may make a drain more likely. The effect of changing the force of various features is dependent on a particular pinball playfield design.

Any feature that uses an electro-mechanical or electro-magnetic means to impart force to a pinball may be modified to impart a variable force, including such items as kick-out holes and even flippers.

Finer Granularity of Movable Features

The discussion above concerned movable features with 5 different positions: neutral, fifty percent open, one hundred percent open, fifty percent closed, and one hundred percent closed. One skilled in the art would appreciate that it is possible to position a movable feature in a multitude of different positions. And that the number of different positions that would have noticeable effect on game play is higher than the 5 positions discussed above. Furthermore, that the logic and tables discussed above are scalable. Thus smaller movement changes may be made to a movable feature, which would be less noticeable to a player, and thus more organic to play.

Determining Difficulty Level By Score

An experienced player may choose to take risky shots, that is shots that have a greater chance of being the cause of a ball draining, by choice. As a typical pinball game advances, features are unlocked, which often offer higher value targets, but are harder to hit. Thus an experienced player may have a short ball play time, but a very high (points scored per seconds played). So if a player has a neutral or positive Difficulty_Level and a short Ball_Time an additional lookup table could be referenced based on (total points scored on previous ball) divided by Ball_Time to determine Difficulty_Level adjustment.

Variable Optimal Time Based on Ball Number

As features become unlocked players are confronted with a choice of different targets, or different valued targets. Some of these targets may be riskier than others, that is some targets may have a higher probability of a ball draining than others. Thus in a game not using our current invention, the average time for individual balls may differ, that is, the average for ball one may be 60 seconds, ball two 70 seconds, ball three 40 seconds, etc. It may be desirable to modify the look up tables to reflect this. This average time per ball could be determined by play testing the game before release.

It may be that unlocking a single feature would have a dramatic influence on Ball_Time. For example, applicants have observed that unlocking a multi-ball feature often has the result of making the likelihood of a short Ball_Time more likely. Therefore it may be desirable to modify any difficulty adjustment due to features unlocked.

Detecting a Probable Low Ball_Time Before a Drain

The present invention monitors Ball_Time during play and makes adjustments based on higher than optimal Ball_Time. In order to provide a satisfying gaming experience to a novice player, it may be desirable to detect a probable early drain and make adjustments during the play of an individual ball. One way to monitor a probable early drain would be to monitor Points_Per_Second (points scored divided by Ball_Time). If Points_Per_Second were below optimal, difficulty level may be adjusted.

Toggling Game_Clock On/Off Based on Features

There are some features that effectively take a ball out of a player's control. These are often features that capture a ball and then proceed to move it around the playfield. Another set of features captures a ball, and subsequently a player is given another ball in a different location. One example of these type of features is U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,052 Popadiuk et al. “Rotating Magnetic Box Play Feature for a Pinball Game.” It may be desirable to toggle the Game_Clock off for times that features such as these control the ball.

Other Modifications to Optimal Game Time

Pinball operators have a desire to maximize number of plays per machine. Therefore it may be desirable to set a pinball for a longer optimal game time when there is historically less traffic and a shorter game time for when there is historically more traffic. One way this could be accomplished would be to change the values of Game_Time (FIG. 6) based upon time of day.

Another method of determining when to make a game's optimal time longer (looser) and thus potentially more attractive to a gamer is to monitor time between the start of new games. When the time between new games start becomes greater than a pre-set reference, the optimal game time could be adjusted as described above.

It may be desirable to communicate to a potential player that they machine is currently set in a looser mode. Making a game longer has a side effect of enabling a player to get a deceptively high score. Thus is may be desirable to either not record a high score when a machine is in this mode, or have two or more high score displays based upon the machine's setting when the high score was achieved. For this reason, a player may desire to play the machine at its' normal settings and it may be desirable to let a player choose whether to play on normal or loose settings.

Tournament Play

For tournament play it may be desirable for an operator to direct a pinball to set all active components to a pre-determined state and to temporarily turn off the self-adjusting difficulty logic and circuitry. It may be desirable to allow players to practice for a tournament, but at the same time not affect the potential revenue from a machine. In this case a player could put a machine into tournament mode by paying a premium price per game.

Unlocking Features

In order to reward a player for playing on a high Difficulty_Level, certain features may only be unlocked based on the current Difficulty_Level. In order to give a novice player a rewarding game experience certain features may be unlocked based on a low Difficulty_Level. For example, unlocking a multi-ball feature is fun. However a novice player may not have the expertise to do so. Therefore, when a low Difficulty_Level and perhaps a high Ball exists, the targets to unlock a feature such as multi-ball are, are made easier to allow a novice player a better chance of unlocking the feature.

No element, act, or instruction used in the description of the present application should be construed as critical or essential to the invention unless explicitly described as such. Also, as used herein, the article “a” is intended to include one or more items. Where only one item is intended, the term “one” or similar language is used.

The scope of the invention is defined by the claims and their equivalents. 

1. A self-adjusting-difficulty feature for changing game play for a pinball game having a playfield supporting a rolling ball and a plurality of playfield features thereon, said self-adjusting-difficulty feature comprising: a) logic and circuitry for monitoring game play comprising: (i) means for monitoring total game time played; (ii) means for monitoring current ball time played; (iii) means for monitoring number of balls not yet played; b) logic and circuitry for evaluating game play comprising: (i) means for storing pre-determined standards; (ii) means for comparing current game play to the pre-determined standards; (iii) means for determining if game play should be adjusted for the purpose of making a ball drain more or less likely; c) one or more active playfield features capable of being modified by logic and circuitry for the purpose of making a ball drain more or less likely; d) logic and circuitry for modifying one or more active playfield features; e) logic and circuitry for modifying score values of the playfield features if one or more active playfield features are adjusted.
 2. The self-adjusting-difficulty feature of claim 1, wherein the pre-determined standards may change depending upon time of day.
 3. The self-adjusting-difficulty feature of claim 1, wherein the pre-determined standards may change depending upon length of time between games.
 4. The self-adjusting-difficulty feature of claim 1, further comprising: logic and circuitry for adjusting a start position of the active feature upon operator input.
 5. The self-adjusting-difficulty feature of claim 4, wherein after adjusting a start position of the active features no further adjustments are allowed to the active features.
 6. The self-adjusting-difficulty feature of claim 1, further comprising: logic and circuitry for recognizing a returning playing and adjusting a start position of the active features based upon the returning player's previous game play.
 7. The self-adjusting-difficulty feature of claim 1, further comprising: logic and circuitry for unlocking a playfield feature when an active feature is set to a particular state. 